After a decade of art concerned with commodity and appropriation, Dave Hickey embraced
beauty as the issue of the nineties. In the final years of the 1990's what can we say about
beauty? Within the context of the cultural milieu this class will explore the work of artists from
1980 to the present. Graduate students will take a critical look at the contemporary art scene
and it's relationship to cultural trends. Each student will write a paper linking a particular
cultural theme to the work of one or more contemporary artists. Fall semester will take a broad
look at work and movements from the past twenty years. Spring semester will focus on various
topics. The topic for Spring 98 is: Visual Culture: The gallery collector system.